Hari called the day before and said lets go somewhere on the new year day. We decided we will plan based on the time we wake up. We decided to drive somewhere nearby in his new car and he found Kelavarapalli dam. It was around 30 Kms from sarjapur and we parked at his apartment and went to the dam. We packed some food and reached the dam around noon. The place was bit more crowded than expected. There was nothing except for an ice cream cart at the entrance. Do not forget to carry water bottle. It was very hot when we reached there. We could walk on the dam till certain point and see the water flow. The water looked very clean from far away but when we walked up it had a bad smell. We spent sometime walking over the dam and clicking pics. There was a small park next to the dam. We setup the bags under a tree and had lunch in the park. Kids climbed a tree and played for some time. We left around 3 to visit chikka tirupathi.

Few pics from the place.

Kids at the entrance.

Beautiful - Background :)

Friends.

Water flowing from the dam.

Group pic.

View of the dam from park.

It could be developed as a nice picnic spot near Bangalore if maintained properly. Combine this with chikka tirupathi and make it a one day trip from Bangalore.

Friday, January 13, 2017

After visiting Padutirupathi we set of to Moodabidri to see Thousand pillar temple. Moodabidri is located 20 Km south of Karkala. Harsh kept ask if the temple will be crowded and i had told him no i dont think so there will be any one in this place. He was very happy which did not last long. There were 3 tourist buses parked outside the temple. Looks like they have all come from far away places to visit all Jain basadi's. There are 18 Jain temples in moodabidri. We went inside and paid the fee. They asked if we were Jain and i said no. He said then its Rs 5 for each. I thought its free for Jains and asked him and he said no they need to pay more as donation :). A monolithic Manastambha stand beautifully at the entrance. Then we went on to explore the temple. Non Jain's are not allowed inside the inner sanctum. We went around the temple and saw the ornate pillars decorating the place. We could definitely saw that the pillars dont count for 1000. There were small pillar like structures carves on the bigger pillars and we said if we count all these then there will be 1000. We went to the person giving ticket and asked him. He confirmed that we need to add all the smaller pillar structures on the main pillars. The temple was built around 1430 AD and still maintained very well. More details about the temple can be found here. The temple is also called Saavira Kambada basadi. All the pillars are unique and the carvings are very beautiful.

Few pics from the trip.

Main entrance to the temple.

60 Ft Manastambha.

Carvings on the roof.

View of the mandapa supported by pillars.

One of the pillar with smaller pillars carved on it.

View from outside.

Another view.

Smaller pillars that makes it 1000.

One another unique pillar.

Mandapa infront of the inner sanctum.

Temple flagstaff.

Rear view of the entrance.

One of the nice place to visit in Moodabidri. Club this with Karkala and you get a nice weekend getaway from bangalore.

Sri Venkatarama temple is around 1.5 Kms from Hotel Prakash karkala. We reached there around 9 AM. The temple looks more like a house than a regular temple. The temple structure is not very impressive from outside but it was very well compensated inside. The temple looks very beautiful inside. Its all covered with silver and gold plates. The inner sanctum was decorated with 6 Kg real gold. The temple was correctly named as padutirupathi meaning west Tirupathi. The pooja in this temple are done exactly the same way as the main Tirupathi. There is a very interesting story about the temple and can be found here. We had a very good darshan in the temple. There are hundi kept in the temple which will be sent to Tirupathi on some special days every year. People who cannot visit Tirupathi can visit this temple and give the offerings here.

Few pics from the trip. I just took this one pic and did not even try to take any pic inside.

Tuesday, January 10, 2017

After visiting the chaturmukha basadi and Bahubali Gommateshwara we went to see few other attractions in karkala. First was the anekere lake. Its a huge lake built by King pandyadeva during 1262 AD. There is a temple at the middle of the lake and a walk way to reach the temple. The location and the view was a beautiful one. There is also a small park near the lake. The temple was closed and nothing much to see here. This was the source of drinking for Karkala town at that time.
Next was Manastambha located in hiriangadi. It was quite dark when we reached there and the neminath temple was closed. We just went around the temple and came back quickly. 60 feet Manastambha is the main attraction in this temple complex. We did not have much time else would have loved to spend one more day and explore many Jain temples in the area. We went back to hotel from Hiriangadi and had a nice dinner at Hotel Prakash. Next day when we got ready and came down for breakfast around 7:15 the food was not ready. We decided to visit Anandpadbanabha temple very close to the hotel. The temple was not famous but i guess that needs to be changed. Lord vishnu in sleeping position was beautifully decorated. Since there was not many people we had a very good darshan unlike srirangam temple in trichy. We were just in time for nice prasadham which was rice and dal payasam. This temple is one of the must visit place in Karkala.

Tuesday, January 3, 2017

After seeing Bahubali statue we went to Chaturmukha Basadi which is located around 1 Km from Gommateshwara hill. There were very few people when we visited there. There was an elderly person who was taking care of the place. Most surprising part is he was blind and very old. He does some pooja in evening. The temple was closed at the time we reached there. We did not knew he was the one guarding the place so we went around and and sat outside watching sun going down for the day. Suddenly Harsh said the temple is open and people are going inside. The elderly person opens the door and allow visitors inside if they ask for. He asks for number of people in the group and charge Rs 5 for each. The inner sanctum was dark and there were 3 statue of the Tirthankara. The same 3 statue can be seen on all four sides inside the temple. The temple structure is also similar on all four side thus the name Chaturmukha.

Monday, January 2, 2017

Timings: Not sure. Plan it for late evening or early morning to beat the heat.

From Udupi Krishna Temple we cambe back to Karkala. We checked into Hotel Prakash around 3 PM. The room was spacious and the bed and bathroom were clean. We rested for an hour and got ready to see Gommateshwara statue on top of a small hill. The place was around 1.5 Kms from Hotel Prakash. One can either drive up to the top or park the vehicle down and climb few steps. We drove to the top of the hill. The 42 ft statue of Bahubali is the second tallest Gommateshwara statue in Karnataka. First one is Shravanabelagola. It was built around 1432 AD. There is nothing much on the hill top except for the Bahubali statue and beautiful view of the western ghats.

Few pics from the place.

View of Chaturmukha Basadi from the hill top.

Statue of Gommateshwara.

Selfie time.

Closer view of the Lord.

Pillar in the front.

Someone's foot. Unable to read the first part.

View of Ramasamudra lake.

There are few more temples nearby and Karkala itself can be visited as a weekend trip from bangalore.